Fighting the Flying Circus (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919 edition. Excerpt: ... heavenward. After thirty minutes industriously occupied in throwing my pursuers off my trail, I ventured out of concealment and gratefully made my way home. There on the field two of my dear old comrades were waiting for me to come in. What anxiety they would have suffered if they had known what I had just been through "Hello, Rick Why the devil didn't you wait for us? " Doug Campbell inquired, as I began to climb out of my machine. "We chased you all over France trying to catch up with you " "Where did you go, Eddie, after we lost you in those clouds?" demanded Charley Chapman, looking at" me interestedly as he leaned against my suspended leg. "We've been home almost half an hour " Here, it seemed were the two pilots -- American instead of B-oche -- who had been chasing me. I. thought very intently for a quarter of a second. Then I pushed Chapman away and descended from my machine. "I thought I remembered seeing a Boche back in Germany and went back to make sure," I replied easily. "But I guess I was mistaken." CHAPTER IV DOWNING MY FIRST HUN IT will be noticed that my preparation for combat fighting in the air was a gradual one. As I look back upon it now, it seems that I had the rare good fortune to experience almost every variety of danger that can beset the war pilot before I ever fired a shot at an enemy from an aeroplane. This good fortune is rare, it appears to me. Many a better man than myself has leaped into his stride and begun accumulating victories from his very first flight over the lines. It was a brilliant start for him and his successes brought him instant renown. But he had been living on the cream at the start and was unused to the skim-milk of aviation. One day the cream gave out and the first dose of skim-milk...